With Hard Knocks For The Last Broadway Revival, Martin Charnin Brings His Version Of ANNIE To NYC

"I have a responsibility to the audience," Martin Charnin says of his new national touring production of ANNIE. "They've come for a reason. They haven't come for a new interpretation."

Lyricist and director of the original 1977 Broadway production, which came to New York after a run at the Goodspeed Opera House, Martin Charnin was the driving force behind the creation of one of the world's most beloved musical comedies.

In an Associated Press interview, he tells of his dissatisfaction with the 2012 Broadway revival, directed by James Lapine, which played up the misery of the musical's Great Depression setting, had characters speaking in thick New York accents and otherwise tinkered with Thomas Meehan's book and the score Charnin wrote with composer Charles Strouse.

"There are little choices that some directors make that go against the grain of what the show is about," he explains. "When you add a layer of behavior or you change lines or sequences, you are really disturbing the piece. It's like taking a skeleton apart, putting it together again, but the third rib is now the fifth rib. Uh-unh, because you won't walk straight."

The tour will make a 16-performance stop as the first major theatrical event at Brooklyn's newly restored Kings Theatre, December 15-27, 2015. The former movie house re-opened earlier this year after a $95 million restoration.

The production will also be visiting Arkansas, Delaware, Rhode Island, Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.

When ANNIE originally opened in 1977, America was counting on its new president, Jimmy Carter, to provide a sense of optimism that had disappeared after President Nixon's Watergate scandal resulted in the resignation of the country's leader and his replacement with a man the people didn't elect. ANNIE helped support that need.

"Being optimistic is really not a bad thing to be," says Charnin. "If you took it out of the equation of how you'd live, I think everything would be THE HUNGER GAMES."

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The world's best-loved musical returns in time-honored form. Directed by original lyricist and director Martin Charnin and choreographed by Liza Gennaro, this production of ANNIE will be a brand new incarnation of the iconic original.

Featuring book and score by Tony Award-winners Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin, ANNIE includes such unforgettable songs as "It's the Hard Knock Life," "Easy Street," "I Don't Need Anything But You," plus the eternal anthem of optimism, "Tomorrow."

Photo Credit: Walter McBride